MEMORIAL DAY: Old-fashioned valor will fuel the USS Ross

* Five years after the death of Capt. Donald Ross, a true Kitsap County World War II hero, the Navy is about to commission a ship named in his honor.

It's a scene the late Capt. Donald K. Ross of South Kitsap would have loved - a traditional Navy ceremony, complete with pomp and patriotism, fireworks and fanfare.

The occasion will be the commissioning of the guided-missile cruiser USS Ross on June 28 in he Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas. The ship is named in honor of Ross, a Medal of Honor recipient with an irrepressible spirit and a deep love of his country who was well-known and well-loved by his fellow Kitsap residents.

And if he can't be there in person, his spirit will be.

"I think he's already there, because the crew is already filled with joy and the can-do spirit, with an imaginative and creative approach," said Helen Ross, Ross' widow and the ship's sponsor.

USS Ross, 21st in the Navy's Arleigh Burke class of Aegis guided-missile cruisers, is a sleek 505-foot vessel with a mixed-gender crew of 323 sailors featuring the latest in naval weaponry, sensors, electronics and propulsion.

But deep down, it will run on old-fashioned valor of the type that motivated Ross when he distinguished himself aboard the battleship USS Nevada during Japan's Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

Ross, then a warrant officer in charge of the Nevada's propulsion plants, keep the battleship's dynamos and generators running despite being blinded by shock waves from Japanese bombs and nearly fried by escaping steam from the ship's boilers during the attack. His quick actions also saved the lives of many shipmates.

Later, while being rushed to the hospital, Ross stopped to restore order at Pearl Harbor's fleet landing even though he still could see only shadows. Two days afterward, officers sent by the ship's chief engineer found him there - still wearing the slippers he'd had on when the attack started - and brought him to the Navy hospital. Nurses there applied compresses to his eyes until his sight returned 10 days later.

For his bravery, Ross was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration , on April 18, 1942, by the legendary Adm. Chester Nimitz.

Through the rest of his naval career and after retiring in 1956, Ross was a one-man advertisement for the American spirit with his infectious enthusiasm. He was well-known for leading large groups in singing "God Bless America" at naval ceremonies in Kitsap County. His voice wasn't the greatest, but his patriotism was high-octane.

After Ross' death on May 27, 1992, former President George Bush decided to name a U.S. Navy cruiser for him, Just a few months earlier, Ross had introduced Bush at the 50th anniversary ceremony of the Pearl Harbor attack at the USSARizona Memorial.

Presiding at next month's commissioning will be Navy Secretary John Dalton. It is believed to be the first nighttime Navy ship commissioning since World War II. The Ross will be homeported in Norfolk, Va.

Also at the ceremony will be Adm Paul Reason, commander of the Atlantic fleet and the highest-ranking black in U.S. naval history, along with Vice Adm. Richard Nelson, a former commanding officer of Naval Hospital Bremerton, and Rear Adm. Larry Marsh, former commander of the Trident submarine fleet at Bangor.

And of course, Helen Ross will be there as the ship's sponsor. It will be her responsibility to give the order: "Man our ship and bring her to life," as sailors run aboard the vessel and activate its systems.

Helen Ross, who also was in Hawaii at the time of the Japanese attack, didn't know whether Don, then her fiance, had survived until days afterward. The two were married in May 1942.

"It really is amazing," she said of the upcoming ceremony. "They're pulling out all the stops for this one."

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